US, Mexico step up customs cooperation on border

MEXICO CITY, Aug 14 (Reuters) The United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to beef up cooperation between their customs agencies to keep drugs, guns and terrorist weapons from crossing their border.

Under the agreement, the United States will help Mexico's customs service upgrade its equipment, and the countries will share information to detect contraband and bust smugglers along the 2,000-mile frontier.

''The United States and Mexico are sending a strong message to criminals and their networks that we're watching and working together to terminate their schemes,'' Julie Myers, US assistant secretary of Homeland Security, told reporters on a visit to Mexico.

The United States is building a controversial fence along parts of the frontier to reduce illegal migration and stop rampant drug smuggling.

Many Americans worry that the border, much of it passing through remote desert areas, is a potentially easy place for terrorists to sneak weapons of mass destruction into the United States.

Under the customs plan signed yesteray, the two agencies will work together to weed out corrupt officers. Mexican customs officials are widely seen as willing to take bribes to let illegal or untaxed goods across the border.

The Mexico-US border is the entry point for more than 90 percent of the cocaine sent to the United States from South America, according to the US State Department.

The Mexican government says most of the weapons used by violent drug cartels in Mexico are smuggled from the United States.

REUTERS CS VC1013